Environmentally Friendly Behavior in Greek Leisure Centers and Different Participants’ Characteristics

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the environmentally friendly behaviour of people that participate in leisure and recreational activities. In particular to investigate changes in environmental friendly attitudes due to i) different demographic characteristics and ii) different preferences for participation at leisure or recreational activities. Even, to test the predictive ability of the particular environmental variables towards participants’ ‘word of mouth communication’ (WOM) for eco-friendly leisure centers. Three hundred and seventy seven individuals (scuba divers N=81, swimming pool users N=124 and beach swimmers N=172) completed the following scales: a) ‘eco-friendly policy’, b) ‘disposition to eco-friendly behavior’, c) ‘centers compliance to eco-friendly services’, and ‘WOM for eco-friendly leisure centers’. The reliability of the scales were tested successfully (Cronbach’s α= .78 < .89). Generally the results of the study supported that female, older in age and higher educated participants reported higher scores in all variables. Moreover statistical significant differences were revealed on ‘eco-friendly policy’ scale (p< .001), as scuba-diver and beach swimmer subgroups succeeded significantly higher scores than the swimming pool users. Relevant results appeared for the ‘centers compliance to eco-friendly services’ variable (p< .01), as scuba-diver subgroup scored significantly higher than the other subgroups. Finally all the three environmentally friendly scales (policy β=.20, compliance β=.26 and disposition β=.41) predicted statistically significant the ‘WOM for eco-friendly leisure centers’ (p<.001). The managerial and marketing implications of these results are extensively discussed.